


To Think Something So Great Came Out of a Catastrophe

by niamdaisies



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Nerd!Niall, Niam - Freeform, Niam Fluff, harry is nialls roomate, he wears glasses even though it's hardly mentioned, i think Louis is mentioned like once if that, liam is new, liam is pretty cute too, niall is an innocent flower, okay that's enough, sorry for the awful pun, zayn doesn't exist my bad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-12
Updated: 2015-06-12
Packaged: 2018-03-17 10:54:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3526583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/niamdaisies/pseuds/niamdaisies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Niall Horan is an average guy. Or, well, okay maybe not so average. He's a comic book nerd with a strange cat obsession. But something pretty great comes out of this when he's walking his cat army and is approached by a giant dog and it's very shirtless owner who goes by the name of Liam Payne.</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Think Something So Great Came Out of a Catastrophe

**Author's Note:**

  * For [masterchance05](https://archiveofourown.org/users/masterchance05/gifts).



> I meant to start this ages ago so I really want to apologize to you who had requested this like a year ago oh my god. I apologize in advance if it isn't exactly what you were expecting,(the prompt was a bit vague) but I tried, ha.  
> okay, here it is.

"Niall we should go out to a club or something." Harry laid sprawled out on the blonde's bed with his head dangling off the edge.

Looking up from his book, Niall sighed and shifted in his chair, adjusting his blocky glasses.

"No. You know I don't do that. I'll just stay here with the kids."

Harry rolled his eyes,"They're cats. They're not your kids. Stop acting like they're humans"

"They're practically my children alright. I love them, you know that."

Harry sighed then,"Niall you can't just replace them with cats. We all know what happened was awful but —"

Niall cut him off "I changed my mind. I'm going out. I'll be at the park with the kids. See you later."

Niall grabbed the leashes off of his desk and headed down to the cats' playroom.

"Hey babies" Niall cooed at his cats and hooked each of them up to their leashes before leading them out of the room.

Just outside, Harry was leaning against the front door, arms crossed in front of his chest.

"Niall you just _can't_  put your cats on a leash and walk them at the park"

Niall rolled his eyes and shoved his way past his roommate.

The cats followed him anyway so what did Harry know?

Niall had five cats. He had Iron Man, Hulk, Widow, Hawkeye and Thor. They all had their own little personalities and Niall might be lying if he said he didn't have a favorite. Thor was his favorite.

(Definitely not just because he tried to protect his owner all the time despite his size.)

(And not because he was a bit more.. buff than the other cats.)

(Especially not because Niall secretly wanted a boyfriend some day just like Thor in human form..)

(No way.)

The park was lovely today. It was peaceful and he could hear birds chirping and the trees were spouting pretty pink flowers.

Pfftt, who needs a boyfriend like Thor when you can walk at the park on a beautiful day with your cats?

Not Niall, that's who.

Niall sighed and looked down at his kitties. Their leashes were tangled up at this point and they were far too close to each other to possibly be comfortable but they all looked happy regardless so it didn't matter.

Niall was enjoying himself. Fresh air in his lungs and cute birdies flying around and catching his cats' attention.

Unfortunately, his peaceful Niall time was cut short when he saw a giant dog dragging it's very shirtless owner towards him.

Okay so maybe the guy was fit. Like **really** fit. But he had a huge dog!

It wasn't long before the giant dog (a husky, he noticed) was sniffing around and licking at the cats that were rolling onto each other on the ground.

The dog's owner then tightened the leash and pulled it back some, rubbing the back of his neck and sighing.

"Hey I'm really sorry. He won't hurt them, he just really likes cats."

Then the dog was back at it, running in circles around the blonde boy and his kitties who were hissing at the thing.

Before he knew it, Niall was crying. He was terrified of dogs! He just couldn't handle them.

"Loki! No! Bad dog!," god, and the owner of this dog was terrible at being stern.

The crying mess bent down and scooped up his cats in his arms, noting the way he had to literally pull Iron Man out from underneath the stupid dog.

Once all of his children were back in his arms, Niall turned around and ran out of the park, aiming for home as he cried into his ball of cats.

This left behind a very confused brunette and his dog.

The man thought that blonde boy was pretty cute despite his strange uh.. yeah. He thought he was cute besides the fact that he walked his cats at the park.

Too bad he'd never see him again.

The brunette bent down to give his dog a nice scratch behind the ear when he noticed something shining beside the dog's leg.

He picked it up. It was a pendant from a collar. Probably the cat Loki managed to sit on.

It had a number and an address on it though. Lucky for him, he would be seeing plenty of that cute, cat-obsessed, glasses-wearing boy.

The address was just next door to his brand new apartment.

\---

Niall wiped at his eyes and put his cats down as soon as he entered through the door.

After getting them all back into their playroom, he went off to Harry's room. He just needed a quick cuddle.

When he opened the door, Harry looked up from his phone and raised an eyebrow.

"Back so soon?"

Niall nodded and wiped his eyes again.

"There was a big dog"

Harry immediately stood and guided the small boy to the bed. He knew how scared he was of dogs.

"C'mon then. We'll have a nice cuddle until you sleep in and then when you wake up you'll have some fresh soup ready for you. how does that sound?" Okay so maybe Harry treated him like a child but that's basically what he was.

Niall sniffled and rubbed his eyes as he laid his head against Harry's shoulder.

"Sounds nice."

So Harry waited until Niall slept in before getting up and going over to the couch. Yeah Niall was cute as hell but that boy was like a damn heater okay.

Just as he switched the tv to something watchable, there were three soft knocks on the front door.

Harry groaned. He'd just gotten comfortable dammit!

He opened the door to find a very attractive brunette outside the door.  
(yeah he had a boyfriend but so what?)

"Uhm. Hi?" Harry spoke after a moment of awkward eye contact.

The brunette in front of him cleared his throat before speaking.

"Hello. I'm Liam. Uh, is that blonde boy here? Glasses?"

"Niall?"

Liam laughed,"I never got his name. Took off before I had the chance to properly introduce myself"

"Well yeah, we might be talking about the same boy. He's asleep now though so, mind coming back in an hour or so?" Harry suggested, fingers playing with his necklace.

"Yeah no problem. I'm just next door, so. Nice meeting you though! Could you tell him I stopped by?"

"Sure thing, you too" and with that, the guy was gone. What was his name again?

After he closed the door, Harry went back down to the couch, noting the way the coffee table was covered in lame comic books.

Okay so maybe Niall was a huge comic book nerd and had five cats who he took on walks, and yeah, maybe he was the most innocent flower at age 21. No he'd never had a drink, or sex.. or a boyfriend... hell, the poor boy hadn't even had his first kiss!

He loved Niall though. He was different. He was pure.

It was then that said boy walked into the room with a light pink blanket wrapped around him and his blonde hair looking like a nest.

"Hey, Ni"

"You left." Niall huffed, tugging the blanket tighter around himself.

"Well someone was at the door for you earlier. Told me to tell you he stopped by." Harry said casually as he leaned back into the couch and closed his eyes.

"Who was it?" Niall asked, rubbing his eye with his fist

"Just some bloke. I told him to come back though so I suggest you go pretty yourself up. He was well fit."

Niall nearly squealed as he went back to his room to change.

A guy came around to see _him_?

Harry walked into the room then,"Niall I was joking, don't piss yourself. Just wear what you're already wearing and — oh."

There were those insanely soft knocks again.

"No time now, come on Niall"

Upon opening the door they were greeted with that same brunette. Niall recognized him from the park. Yeah he had that stupid dog.

"Oh hi! I'm Liam." he greeted, sticking a hand out for Niall to shake.

Niall took it and wanted to scream. He was really fit okay. And he looked like a Liam.

"I'm Niall, hi."

Liam smiled. "So I wanted to apologize for what happened at the park today. Loki just.. he doesn't seem to understand that he isn't a puppy anymore, you know? He just wanted to play is all. I'm sorry if he scared you"

At this point Harry had already left the two alone, not wanting to miss his show.

Niall played with his hands a bit,"I just don't like dogs. They scare me a lot" he murmured.

Liam nodded,"Yeah I understand that. But I can assure you Loki wouldn't hurt anyone, he's the sweetest. You know, I live just next door. Just moved here." he trailed off before finally spitting it out.

"Okay I actually came here to return this to you," he placed the cat's pendant in the palm of Niall's hand,"But I was thinking maybe.. I mean my dog really liked you and your cats and you seem very nice. I don't have any friends here yet so I was thinking.. I don't know, would you mind if we hung out some time? I'd like a friend."

Niall couldn't breathe. What? Hell yes he would be his friend. Oh my god he couldn't believe it.

"Yeah that sounds nice," he whispered,"I have the avengers on blu ray, uhm. If you like that stuff."

Back on the couch, Harry wanted to choke himself. God Niall was horrible at this stuff. Poor guy.

Liam smiled,"Yeah I love that movie! Named my dog after Thor's brother didn't I?" he laughed and Niall swore he was going to die. this was perfect.

"That's so cool! My uhm.. my cats. well there's five of them and uhm. I named them after the five avengers."

Niall you're not helping yourself, stop, Harry thought.

"Maybe I could swing by tomorrow? Or you could come to mine? I mean I know you're not very fond of my dog but I promise he won't hurt you. And he loves your cats too so maybe you could bring them with you? I promise Loki is really sweet."

Niall bit his lip and thought for a second. That didn't seem too bad. His kitties would scratch the dogs eyes out of he tried to hurt him right? And Liam wouldn't let the dog hurt him either right?

"Sure. I'll bring my movie then. What time?"

Liam held out his phone which was opened to a new contact.

 **Blonde boy** it read. Niall shook his head with a smile and put in his cell number. He would leave the contact that way, whatever.

"I'll send you message once I get my flat cleaned up a bit alright? See you tomorrow, Niall" and he was gone.

When he closed the door, he looked over to his friend.

"Harry I think I just made a friend."

He was smiling wider than ever before and his cheeks were beginning to hurt. He hadn't made a new friend since Harry! He thinks it's because everyone thinks he's a weirdo who insists on walking his cats at the park but that was fine.

"Yeah, I think so, mate." he ruffled the blonde's hair and kissed his cheek.

"Well I'll be in bed so. Come to my room if you need anything as always. Goodnight niall"

Niall responded with a quick "Nanite" before he went to his own room, hopping into bed and putting the cat pendant on the night stand alongside his glasses for the night.

\--

_(1) new message(s)_

His phone wouldn't shut up the next morning. He got it. He had a message.

_(1) new message(s)_

Niall groaned and stuffed his head in his pillow.

_(1) new message(s)_

This time he finally flipped over and put on his glasses before he grabbed his phone. Who the hell is messaging him at.. he squinted his eyes .. 11am? Okay maybe that was a bit late but Niall didn't go to uni or anything so why would he wake up earlier than noon?

He didn't recognize the number but opened the message nevertheless.

**Hey (-: it's Liam! Can you message me back once you get this? Thanks!**

Oh. He wasn't so mad anymore. Liam could text him early if he wanted to.

Niall saved the number as simply " **the boy next door** " with a giggle. He was so funny.

He then messaged him back with:

**hello :) got t message ha!**

He bit at his nail before finally getting up and showering and changing into something comfortable. Liam wouldn't want to hang out until like, late right?

Niall put on his glasses and checked his phone again.

_(1) new message(s) from: **The boy next door**._

**Hi! I was thinking you could come by around 2? I've got all the Thor movies and I have hulk and captain America and that (-: We could watch em before the big one yeah? Just a thought!**

Haha okay cool it was like 1:30 and Niall looked like a rat.

He didn't expect to have to be ready so early! He still texted him back though.

**Yeh, sounds good ! just got outta t shower though , migh be a little longer !**

Okay what to wear? He supposed it didn't matter. They were only watching some movies right?

He chose a light pink t shirt (he rolled the sleeves of course), and his favorite blue skinny jeans with the holes in the knees.

After fixing his hair (covering his hand in gel and just fluffing it up) and brushing his teeth, he fed his cats and stuck a sticky note to Harry's bedroom door.

_I'm next door ! See ya later ! :P_

He grabbed his keys and phone and left.

It took like four seconds to get there and knock so that was nice.

When the door opened, he was greeted by Liam who held the door wide for him.

"Come on in. I ordered a pizza it should be here soon."

As soon as Niall walked in though, that giant dog came running towards him and Liam.

Without a second thought, he jumped and hid behind Liam's body, using him as a shield to use against the stupid dog.

"Loki, stop it. You're scaring him."  
The dog immediately sat back on its haunches and stared at the blonde.

Liam turned around and put a hand on nialls shoulder. It was then that Niall realized he really was shorter than like, five feet. Liam was a whole head taller than him. Sure Harry was too but that boy was basically a giraffe. He was taller than everybody okay.

"Hey Niall it's okay. He's just curious."

He then lead Niall to the couch by his arm while staring intently at Loki.

"Uhm. Could you please uhm.. maybe put him outside or in another room?"

"Sure." Liam stood up and began walking down the hall,"C'mon Loki."

After putting him in his bedroom, he returned and sat down beside Niall on the couch.

"Okay so do you want to get to know each other a bit or just jump into this friendship thing?" he laughed and Niall shifted a tad.

"We can get to know each other yeah."

"Alright. So basic facts? I'm Liam Payne. I'm twenty-four. I like.. well I like dogs and I don't really do much but sit at home and watch tv but I'm okay with giving anything a try."

He finished off and nodded encouragingly at the blonde.

"Oh. Well I'm Niall Horan. I'm only twenty-one. Uh... I'm afraid of dogs but I really love cats. I don't do much either. I just uhm, I just play with my cats and read comic books, really."

"That's pretty cool. I kind of wish I played with Loki a bit more. I take him on runs but then at home I just give him a ball and he entertains himself you know?"

"Yeah. my cats are very cuddly so it'd be hard to ignore them if I wanted to."

Liam smiled and got up to put the disk in and got back to the couch, slinging his arm around the back of it.

"Maybe I'll get one some day, yeah? Ooh it's starting."

And that was the start of a fantastic friendship.

\---

It went like that for quite a while. They either hung out at Liam's or Nialls. Niall showed him around the town a couple times and he even properly introduced his cats to Liam. They all loved him.

Believe it or not, Niall even warmed up to Loki. It had been bad the first few times, ending with the blonde hiding behind liam with tears streaming down his face. But eventually, Niall was okay with sitting next to him and petting him and even letting Loki lick him sometimes. He liked him so he wasnt going to hurt him, he soon learned.

It had been almost a year and they had became best friends. And that's all there was to say.  
\---

"Harry?" Niall called from the front door as he slipped on his shoes.

"yeah?" he came out from the kitchen, wiping his hands on a little towel.

"I'll be next door and I'll be spending the night so call me if you need me okay? Liam is gonna make me some cookies and  
his special cinnamon coffee with whipped cream today" Harry could see the fondness on the blonde's face when he mentioned plans with Liam. His face always lit up when he was mentioned.

"Niall, can we talk?" he asked hesitantly, throwing his towel somewhere into the kitchen hoping it would land on the table or something.

Niall nodded and finished tying his shoes before walking over to sit next to Harry who was now on the couch.

"Okay I know you've been best friends and all, but.. Niall do you like him?" Harry just went out with it. Wow.

Niall knew this was coming though.

"Yeah. I mean Harry have you _seen_ him?" Niall stood and threw himself back onto the couch as dramatically as he could.

"Harry he's the best friend I could ever ask for and more — no offense I love you but **Liam**. He's so sweet to me and he makes sure I'm comfortable with his doggy and my kitties love him Harry! They hate everyone but me! And he cooks for me and he likes all the things I like and Harry.. he's like.. he's perfect. He's tall and muscular and he's got stubble and he's just perfect, Harry."

Harry never knew his name could be used so many times in the span of thirty seconds but whatever. Niall just poured his little heart out to him and that was pretty cute.

"Ni. I'm really happy for you but I just don't want you getting hurt if he turns out to be straight you know? I don't want to have to see you heartbroken ever again."

That was the night Liam kissed him.

\---

It happened as cliché as ever.

"Nialler can you grab that mug over there?" The cookies were done and now it was time to serve the cinnamon coffee. It was super good and Niall loved it so who cares if it sounded a bit strange.

Niall grabbed the mug and gave it Liam to fill with the coffee and proceed to top it with a blob of whipped cream.

"Here you go, Sweetums."

That was something he was used to now. Liam would always call him stupid things like babe, sweetums, sweetie, baby cakes, cutie, etc. That was their thing. That was normal for two best friends right?

Niall gladly took the mug and took a sip of it, humming at the taste.

About six months ago, Liam had gotten a job at a coffee shop so he would always come home and invite Niall over, making the drinks he liked from whatever he could remember about the recipe. The cinnamon coffee was Niall's favorite though. (It was the whipped cream.)

When Liam looked up from his own drink, he saw the blonde warming his little hands up with the mug, seated at the breakfast bar, eyes closed and whipped cream on the tip of his cute button nose.

He couldn't do it. Liam just couldn't refrain. So he set his own mug down and walked up beside the blonde. Niall had opened his eyes by then and was just watching.

Liam then bent down and wiped the whipped cream off his nose with a single lap of the tongue.

Niall's eyes widened then. Had he just — oh. Their foreheads were pressed together now.

"Can I try something?" Liam whispered, his hand traveling up to cradle the blonde's head just by his ear.

Without waiting for a response, Liam leaned in and pressed his lips against Niall's soft ones, moving them slowly and gently as if the boy might break.

Niall had never been kissed before so he couldn't quite manage to match Liam's rhythm, but he tried.

It was a tad awkward seeing as Niall had absolutely no idea what he was doing, his hands still wrapped around the mug in his lap.

Liam pulled away and just stared into Niall's bright blue eyes.

"You're really pretty, you know?"

Niall blushed and took another sip of his drink, not quite sure what to do or say.

"was that okay? I mean like. Did that make you uncomfortable? We don't have to —" Niall leaned over and pecked his nose.

"I liked it."

They spent that night kissing and cuddling in Liam's bed until they both slept in.

Niall got better at kissing that day.  
\---  
When he got home the next afternoon (spending the morning with Liam of course, they were kind of a couple now), Niall told Harry everything.

He was so happy! He was practically jumping off the walls!

Harry just smiled as Niall rambled on and on about Liam.

He was happy that the blonde was finally truly happy about something. Maybe he could actually throw out his comic books and he wouldn't cry this time.

Baby steps.

"Wait so has he officially asked you to be his boyfriend though?"

Niall frowned for the first time in 24 hours,"Well no. But he will. I mean he kissed me, Harry. _He_ kissed _me_. That means he likes me! He'll ask."

Harry only shrugged. Whatever, it was nialls life, right? At least the boy was happy.  
\---

So who knew Liam was a flashy kind of guy?

It was about a month after their initial kiss. They'd gone out on dates for a while here and there, but they both wanted it to be official.

Like _official_.

Niall was happy with the way it happened. It was pretty stupid.

Liam had followed Niall one day at the pet shop (surprise, surprise, he was getting some toys and cute outfits for his cats).

((have you **seen** a cat in overalls?))

Liam had snuck up behind him and wrapped his arms around his waist while he reached for a toy mouse on high shelf, effectively causing Niall to drop it (and a few other things) before turning around in sheer fright.

He relaxed when he saw it was Liam.

"Hi baby. I found a section with clothes you can get for the cats AND a matching pair for yourself. I like you in overalls, it's cute."

Niall giggled and hid his face in Liam's neck, pressing a kiss there.

"I'll go get them. You're like an extra extra small right? Y'know actually I think you can fit into a cat one I'll— I'm kidding!" Niall hit his arm with a glare and watched him leave to said section.

But the next thing he knew, the annoying elevator music which filled the store stopped with a nasty screeching speaker sound, making the blonde cringe.

"Attention all customers, we have a special announcement today from a Mr. Payne,"

Niall hated Liam. He hated him.

"Hello, I actually wanted to ask something of a very cute bloke I saw walking around earlier," Niall rolled his eyes.

"Haha, not sure if it was his beauty or the blonde hair but I know I was blinded for a moment there. Nearly dropped my toy mouse in the aisle." really.

"Anyways it would be amazing if this cute blonde bloke would agree to, I don't know, maybe be my boyfriend? I'm really cool, I swear."

God Liam was so stupid but he couldn't help but smile. He wheeled his cart to the front customer service counter to find him with the speaker phone in his hand and girls around him who looked like they might cry from the cute.

"Yes, of course."

"HE SAID YES!" Liam shouted over the speaker and set it down before hopping over the desk and grabbing the boy, spinning him around until they were dizzy.

"You're so cute, Niall"

They kissed and held hands as they finished doing their shopping (liam making sure he got those overalls for Niall and his cats).

When they got home they celebrated with cuddles and some pizza.

They could get used to this.

\---

"I want you to meet my parents."  
Three months now that they were officially together and Liam had to go drop that bomb.

"Uhm, I, yeah. Okay."

"Really?" Liam kissed his face all over and grabbed his phone to call his parents right away.

Niall was happy that Liam liked him enough to show him to his parents of course, but he was just upset he could never return the favor.

"Niall they're so excited to meet you. I talk about you all the time okay, and they think you're really cute, I showed them pictures."

So Niall met his family. They were great, they all loved him and he loved them too. But then Liam had to bring up what he was trying to avoid forever.

"Niall, I don't mean to be pushy or any of that but.. I mean, do you think I could ever meet _your_ parents?"

Niall wanted to cry.

"Uhm, no, sorry."

Liam frowned,"Can I ask why?"

Niall sighed. Now or never right? So he pushed up his glasses and straightened himself out on the couch as he took a deep breath.

"Five years ago, me, my brother, my mum and dad and best friend Sean were going out for a weekend, you know? We had a nice house out by a really pretty river. Well, the drive there gets pretty rocky sometimes. Long story short, dad swerved last minute to avoid hitting a dent thing in the road, ended up chipping off a tree and rolling off a little hill. We were all in the hospital for weeks, but uh, I was the only one to leave on my own.

"So at age sixteen, I was forced to move in with my aunt and uncle. Hated it there. Moved out the day I turned eighteen to live with the only friend I had since Sean was gone. And here we are today, Harry's helped me through a lot."

Surprisingly though, Niall wasn't crying yet, but Liam's eyes were filled with tears.

"Hey don't cry, Li. It's been years." He rubbed his arm soothingly for a bit.

"I'm sorry Nialler. You didn't deserve that."

Niall shrugged though.

"I'm fine. But uhm. Okay so this is why I have so many cats. Harry thinks I'm ridiculous but you know, I needed something to fill the void."

"Wait, so you got your cats so you wouldn't feel lonely?" oh my god Liam was about to start sobbing.

"Uhm, yeah. One for each person I guess." Niall shrugged again.

Liam then grabbed the boy and just hugged him for a while.

"Baby you're so strong. I couldn't even imagine being in that situation. It's not ridiculous by the way. I think your cats are the sweetest things in the world and I love them even more now that I know they've each got a special purpose. And you know what?"

Oh god.

"I love you"  
\---  
So the two went from there.

Niall eventually explained where his cat Thor came in which resulted in lots of kisses and cooing.

Liam would buy him cat stuff and new comic books whenever he had the chance.

The two either spent the day at Niall's or Liam's and they were practically inseparable.

Niall remained the innocent little flower he was too until the night he finally returned the three words that had been on his mind since Liam uttered them himself.

It was gentle with a lot of sweet kisses and nuzzling. Liam made sure to keep repeating,"Are you okay? Does that hurt? You can tell me to stop at any time," throughout the night but Niall was okay with that. It meant he cared a lot.

And Niall knew he was the one. He was perfect. He never thought he would be truly happy again.

But when he and Liam were a mess of tangled limbs in bed and they could feel every last curve of each other, they both knew that this was happiness.

Happiness was each other.


End file.
